Strategic Planning

Launch of the UMass Medical School strategic planning process

Our current strategic plan, Vision 2020, which was developed in partnership with primary clinical partner UMass Memorial Medical Center, has provided a roadmap for a number of impressive successes in core mission areas such as education, research, health care delivery and public service. The experience and engagement of so many faculty, staff and students in the development and implementation of our collective Vision 2020 has revealed a collective and abiding commitment to our future success.

Given the environment in which our medical school operates—a landscape characterized by rapid innovation, new technologies, increasing competition, uncertain funding and constant change—it is imperative that we remain committed to evolving and adapting to ensure our trajectory in the years ahead. Our unique and essential role as the commonwealth’s public medical school compels us to do nothing less.

With the conclusion of the current plan quickly approaching, the timing is right to take stock of where we are now and to consider where we want to go in the future.

I am announcing the launch of a new, year-long strategic planning process during the 2018–2019 academic year. This will be a most important undertaking for our institution, ensuring that there will be a seamless transition between the current and future strategic plans. Ultimately, through a comprehensive and inclusive process, we will create a collective and inspiring vision that will guide UMass Medical School’s strategic direction and priorities until 2025.

Beginning this fall, a group of academic chairs, senior faculty and administrative leaders from the medical school, Commonwealth Medicine, MassBiologics of UMass Medical School and key affiliates will convene for a series of frank discussions and candid assessments that will help to identify those areas that will be prioritized in this next iteration of our strategic plan.

To help facilitate this year-long process, we will be establishing five strategic plan work groups that will be integral to the success of the planning process and, indeed, will help shape and inform the development of a new strategic plan for UMass Medical School.

Each work group, listed below, will focus on a particular thematic area critical to the UMMS mission:

Education, to be chaired by Anne Larkin, MD, and Sonia Chimienti, MD;

Basic Science Research to be chaired by Terence Flotte, MD, and Michael Green, MD, PhD;

Translational Research to be chaired by Terence Flotte, MD, and Katherine Luzuriaga, MD;

Operational Excellence/Financial Stewardship to be chaired by John Lindstedt; and

Community Impact/Global Presence, to be chaired by Jeroan Allison, MD.

During the upcoming academic year, we will welcome the contributions and feedback of all UMMS community members. We will be activating a dedicated strategic planning webpage in the near future to serve as a resource for all interested members of our academic community who wish to learn more about the process. Additionally, we have set up an email account where ideas, comments and feedback can be directed. Please send your inquiries to strategicplanning@umassmed.edu.

The success of this endeavor—indeed, the success of our institution—depends greatly on the willingness of the UMMS academic community to embrace change and contribute to the future direction of our great public medical school.